KING GEORGE III (GREAT BRITAIN) - ROYAL WARRANT SIGNED 06/06/1788 CO-SIGNED BY: MARQUIS RICHARD C. WELLESLEY - HFSID 55596

KING GEORGE III of the UNITED KINGDOM and RICHARD WELLESLEY
Document signed by King George in 1788 establishing half pay for military officers
Document signed "George R." as King of England. 2 pages, 10¼x9½, front and verso, separated at fold into two sheets. "Our Court at St. James", June 6, 1788. Document listing "half pay" - pay for military personnel who are retired or not in active service - for officers by rank. The ranks are grouped into three categories: "Dragoons", "Foot" and "Staff and other Officers". Pay is also broken down into per diem pay as well as "For 183 Days", along with "Deductions Proposed" and "Nett Pay to be Issued." This appears to be only half the document; the columns are cut off on the left edge. KING GEORGE III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland until their union on January 1, 1802, after which was named the United Kingdom, and furthermore was Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (part of the Holy Roman Empire), until his promotion as King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was the third British monarch from the House of Hanover, but unlike his Hanoverian predecessors, he was born in Britain, English was his first language, and he never visited Hanover. George's long tenure as King spanned many military conflicts in Europe and abroad in North America and India: early in his reign Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War which made Britain the dominant European power in North America and India, although many of their colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Most notably, King George III led the country against revolutionary and Napoleonic France in 1793, concluding with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, George III earned his nickname "Mad King George" when later in his life he suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness (now believed to have been cause by the blood disease porphyria), and in 1810, after a final relapse, a regency under his son Prince Regent George of Wales (future King George IV) was established. His reputation as a King has never been flattering, in the United States he is often viewed as a tyrant, and in Great Britain he is often used as a scapegoat for the failure of imperialism, but really King George was just a victim of circumstances and illness in an era when the monarchy was continuing to lose political power. RICHARD WELLESLEY, First Marquess of Wellesley (1760-1842) was the brother of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, whose achievements included the final triumph over Napoleon at Waterloo. Richard Wellesley served as Governor General of India (1798-1805), during which he destroyed remaining French influence there and consolidated British rule. He was Foreign Secretary during the climactic phase of the Napoleonic Wars (1809-1812), signing here in that capacity; and would later serve as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1821-1828, 1833-1834). Lightly toned, soiled and creased. Top of top sheet and bottom of bottom sheet are ragged, torn and soiled. Otherwise in fine condition.